Chapter 2

2

I held onto a tiny shred of hope until the very second they wheeled me into the operating room.

I kept thinking, what if? What if there's still a miracle?

But the lead surgeon only shook his head in pity. "She was brought in too late. The tissue is necrotic. There's no chance of recovery."

This didn't just mean I would never dance again. It meant I would likely spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair.

My future, my dreams―all turned to ash.

It felt like a never-ending nightmare, like I was falling into a bottomless abyss.

When I finally woke up, the first thing I saw was Gavin's face.

Seeing me stir, he quickly picked up a glass of water and carefully held the straw to my lips.

I turned my head away, tears rolling down my face and soaking into the pillow.

He pulled me into his arms, trying to comfort me.

"Cannie, don't worry. I'll take care of you forever. Just be a good girl."

"You know, this has always been Yara's dream. This was the only way I could make up for what I owed her."

I found a sudden surge of strength and shoved him away with all my might.

"Gavin! This was my dream, too!"

I looked at him, my heart overflowing with bitterness. "You ruined me just to compensate her? You destroyed us?"

"Do you have any idea how hard every girl on my team worked for this? How can you throw away everyone's blood and sweat just for your 'compensation'?"

He looked lost for a moment and tried to hug me tight.

I lunged forward and bit his arm, not letting go until I tasted the metallic tang of blood.

"Get out! Get away from me!"

My eyes were filled with pure, unadulterated hatred. Gavin had never seen me like this.

He clutched his bleeding arm, looking shocked, but that shock quickly turned into sharp annoyance.

"Cannie, I think you've lost your mind."

I looked up at him and laughed. "Yes, I have. My life is ruined. Gavin, I hate you!"

His expression softened slightly.

"Cannie, I know you're hurting. But you still have me. I'll marry you as soon as you're discharged. Consider it my way of making it up to you."

A cold, mocking laugh escaped my lips. "Make it up to me? You really think you're that special? I don't want your pity."

Gavin's eyes darkened instantly. His long fingers wrapped around my neck, his voice trembling with suppressed rage.

"Cannie, don't let me hear you say that again. Just focus on recovering. I will marry you when you get out."

I sobbed until I couldn't breathe after he left.

We first met at an arts festival. Gavin was captivated by my dancing and couldn't look away.

After that, I used to invite him to all our performances.

Our whole group consisted of orphans who loved art. He knew better than anyone how much that stage meant to us.

When we first started dating, I thought I was the luckiest girl in the world.

Later, I found out about his 'first love' who had been in his life for years.

Even though they had been broken up for a long time, they were still in constant contact.

I thought they were just friends, but then I noticed he had a special ringtone for Yara.

He would leave me alone on our anniversary just to spend Yara's birthday with her.

He even stole our team's original song because Yara's group was our biggest competitor. He drugged me with sleeping pills right before the qualifiers.

By the time I woke up, the round was over. Because Yara's team performed the song first, we were branded as copycats.

Yara's team moved forward easily, while we became the villains of the industry.

Even then, we didn't give up. We fought our way back through the wildcard rounds.

I thought our hard work had finally paid off.

We thought we were standing at the finish line of our dreams, but reality slapped us across the face.

God, it hurt so much.